15 Safest Ways on How to Get Rid of Mice

How to get rid of mice can be a tricky thing. Most of the time mice lives inside our house without we realizing it until the made the mess. Mice can be quite annoying, but the main problem with mice is not whether they steal food or not, but it’s more to the healthy environment for our family.

Mice can be the source of disease, from infection, asthma to salmonella. Even though we’ve cleaned our house property, but mice can still spread bacteria and viruses to our food and furniture surface if we don’t get rid of them. The goal is to keep the mice out and away from our house.

What Attract Mice to Come Inside the House?

Mice seems to have unlimited secret tunnels because they could pop up somewhere in our house and disappear in a snap. Because of that, how to get rid of mice can be quite tricky. What actually attract mice to come in our area or even inside the house? There are some factors, but the main one is definitely food. We have to remember that food for mice doesn’t only refer to our fresh food in the kitchen, but simply everything that they can eat including the garbage, plans, ur pets’ food and many others.

When we are trying to find a way on how to get rid of mice, then it is suggested to find the most natural and safe way to do it. Many people do prefer natural remedies because mice is not the only living creature that lives in the house, but also us, our pets and maybe children. When we are using too strong or one with dangerous chemical ingredients, then there’s a big chance that we also toxicate ourselves and also our pets if we have one. These best way to get rid of mice naturally can be a solution to keep our house clean of them and safe for our family and pets.

1. Keep the House Clean

This might be the most basic thing to get rid of mice. As said before, mice is attracted to food and everything that they can eat. Therefore, making our food less accessible as possible is a one way to keep them away. The same thing goes to our garbage. Garbage is festive for mice, so managing and keeping it inaccessible would be so helpful.

Keep the inside part of the house, especially kitchen clean, out of food crumbs or food debris.

Don’t leave dirty dishes sit out for awhile, especially overnight.

Store our food in a place where mice can’t reach or keep them inside a sturdy container instead of regular plastic.

If we have pets, we have to make sure that their food is also kept in a safe place in a sturdy plastic container. Please bear in mind that mice can chew a sturdy cardboard, so a sturdy plastic container is the best one.

2. Humane Traps

Ok, so we have cleaned our house and make the food inaccessible, but how to take the mice out of our house and never come back again? The most common way is by using humane traps. This is the option to choose of how to get rid of mice without killing them and worry about its rotten smell in our house.

There are three types of traps, plastic, wooden and electric box trap. All of those works with the same method and it’s the matter of personal preference. When it comes to bait, make sure to use tasty baits like cheese, something with peanut butter or dried fruits. If we have pets, we want to make sure that they can access it. Choosing electric box trap is the best solution for pet owners as it’s completely enclosed. We just need to make sure to check the battery, so it’s on all the time.

3. Onions

Mice hates the pungent smell of onion. It can be the best way to how to get rid of mice, but we have to remember that it would get rotten if we leave it for awhile. This option is not recommended for pet owner as it can be toxic for cat and dog.

To use onions to get rid of mice is as simple as putting freshly cut onions in the rooms with mice. Make sure to put the onions out of its reach and replace them with the fresh one everyday. Otherwise, we will need to deal with another smelly problem.

4. Sprinkle Instant Potatoes

It is said that we won’t be able to get rid of mice completely if we didn’t kill them. If the only thing that we worry about is the toxin from the mice bait, then using instant potatoes is a great solution. All we need to do is sprinkle instant potatoes in the area or room that suspected to has mice. Mice will definitely attracted to instant potato and when they eat it, the potato flakes will expand in their stomach and kill it before it’s properly digested. The downside of this method is that we have to be ready to find dead mice in our house, including in the hidden places.

5. Peppermint Oil

This is one of the most popular home remedies of how to get rid of mice. Most of us love the smell of peppermint oil, but not with mice. Mice is not a big fan of its fresh smell. The way to use it is as simple as:

Take a cotton balls.

Put about 20 drops of peppermint oil on it.

Put the cotton balls near the suspected entry points.

As an alternative of peppermint oil, we can use other minty products like toothpaste.

6. Mouse Repellent Spray

This might be the most common and commercial way to get rid of mice. There is Just like mosquito repellent, mouse repellent spray will help us to get rid of mice by spraying the area. Is it effective? It really depends on the situation. The spray will cover a small area and mice can move and find unaffected area easily. It can be quite effective to lead them to a specific area so they are out of our house. If we don’t really like to idea of chemical repellent, then we can make natural repellent spray that won’t be toxic for pets and children.

Prepare ingredients like habaneros, jalapenos, hot pepper powder or flakes and a litter of fresh water.

Put all the ingredients in a pan and boil them.

Cool it down.

Strain and put it in a spray bottle.

Spray whenever needed.

When making this natural spray, it’s recommended to wear gloves and it could cause irritation and burning sensation on our hand. Watch out of the carpet, the mix could stain and discolor carpet.

7. Ultrasonic Sound

Ultrasonic sound is the sophisticated way on how to get rid of mice. Not only does it simple, but also clean and zero hassle. This device works by releasing ultrasonic ( high frequency, more than 20,000 Hz ) sound to disturb mice and some bugs. The ultrasonic sound causes confusions and sometimes death in some animals. This method is still recommended for pet owners as dog and cat because they can’t hear the sound. Ones that would be affected besides mouse are fleas, spider, squirrels, ants and cockroaches.

The price of ultrasonic repellent ranges between $10 – $100 depends on the brand and number of pest that the device can repel. There are plugin and corded repeller, but corded one would make a better investment. For a good corded unit, it costs about $60. It will cover around 5,000 square feet area, which will be perfect for all rooms, including basement or attic.

8. Put the Trash Can Away from Home

Our trash can is a free supermarket for mice. Therefore, whenever we finish cooking, make sure to take out the trash out of the house and don’t let them sit overnight. Another solution if we don’t want to go back and forth outside the house to throw a bag of trash is by using solid trah can that’s inaccessible for mice. Choose an enclosed bin with heavy top, so mice can’t slide in or open it. Open bin or plastic bin will not keep the mice away. In fact, it will attract mice because of its smell.

9. Cloves

Similar to peppermint oil, cloves works naturally on how to get rid of mice. The method is the same as peppermint oil, by putting them on the suspected spots. We can make a cheesecloth sachet from whole cloves and put them under the bed, entry points and corners.

10. Ammonia

Animals and mouse predators excrete amonia in their waste. When mice smell amonia, it will assume that there’s a cat or other animals staying in our house and it will scare them. Many people use amonia to get rid of mice by spraying them. However, this method is ineffective as the amonia will evaporate quickly. The best way to keep the amonia smell is by placing it in an open container or use a cotton ball.

One thing to remember about amonia is that it could be quite toxicating for other animals and children. Therefore, make sure to keep it away from them or use more natural ways like gloves or peppermint oil.

11. Baking Soda

Baking soda is a lifesaver ingredient we should have in our kitchen. This ingredient is safe for us, but can be poisonous for mouse. This might be the safest way on how to get rid of mice when we have pets, children and even a baby.

Baking soda can be quite deadly for mice because it created a lot of gas when its ingested. Unlike human, rodent like mice doesn’t have the ability to expel gas inside its stomach. Therefore, of the level of gas inside then is high enough, they will die. Since we need the baking soda to be ingested, then we will also need a food bait in the process.

Prepare baking soda, flour, sugar and water.

Take 1: 1: 1 ratio.

Mix the dry ingredients.

Mix the dry ingredients with water.

Don’t put too much water as we need to make dough ball.

Place the dough ball in the strategic area where it can eat it.

12. Dryer Sheets

Dryer sheets has as strong smell that could get rid of mice. It does smell good for human, but apparently the smell is very disturbing for mice. All that we need to do is placing dryer sheets on the suspected entry points, or if there’s a mice hole; we can just stick in the dryer sheets inside and replace it when the smell is off.

13. Soap Detergent and Tabasco

Another natural spray that worth to try is the mixture between soap detergent and tabasco. Those ingredients has strong odor that mice definitely don’t like.

Prepare 3 tablespoon of tabasco

Mix a cup of detergent with 4 liters of water

Mix both ingredients and spay it when needed.

When using it, don’t spray it on a smooth surface as the detergent could make it slippery.

14. Snake Poo and Cat Liter

Snake and cat are the main enemy of mouse. Therefore, having their waste as a repellent can be a good idea. Where we can get them? We can actually get them from the pet store or zoo. No need to worry of poo smelling house because we can use dried poo and we will spread it outside the house in the yard or garden area instead of inside the house. The purpose of this is to give a false warning to mouse that we have snake or cats in our house, so they won’t come in.

15. Pro Pest Control

For us who have a big mouse issue in our house, natural repellents as above might just help a little. If they are really disturbing and become a big issue, then the best way on how to get rid of mice is by calling the pro pest control service. Some houses, especially old houses might have been a house for many mouses. The professional pest control usually know what their doing, but we still need to communicate in advance if we have some concerns like children, pets, etc.